The Lit Salon: Eden Undone
On October 9, The Lit Salon will feature Abbott Kahler on the launch of her new book Eden Undone: A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II. An incredible true story of murder, romance, and a fateful search for utopia in the Galápagos—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ghosts of Eden Park.
An incredible true story of murder, romance, and a fateful search for utopia in the Galápagos—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ghosts of Eden Park
“Abbott Kahler’s wickedly gothic tale confronts an essential truth about those who ditch civilization: Try as we might, humans cannot elude the tyranny of our own nature.”—Hampton Sides, author of The Wide Wide Sea
“With taut prose and sublime storytelling, Kahler crafts an atmospheric page-turner, ominous and thought-provoking.”—Kate Moore, author of The Radium Girls and The Woman They Could Not Silence
A welcome cocktail will be served and a performance by The Brownstone Quartet will open the event, followed by an hour of conversation and audience Q&A hosted by author and journalist Michelle Young and Pulitzer Prize winner Debby Applegate. A book signing and mingling with complimentary drinks will conclude the event.
The Lit Salon is an intimate literary salon set to candlelight inside Maison Brooklyn, a lovingly restored, historic 1890s townhouse. Guests will be asked to remove their shoes inside the private home, so bring your best sock game!
Early bird tickets are $35 with the opportunity to purchase an autographed and dedicated copy of the book. Space is limited. All sales final. No tickets will be sold at the door.
The Lit Salon is produced by Maison Brooklyn, with special partners Aerangis, Ode à la Rose (a same-day NYC flower delivery service), Fort Hamilton Distillery and Untapped New York.
Abbott Kahler, formerly writing as Karen Abbott, is the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City; American Rose; Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy; and The Ghosts of Eden Park. She is also the host of Remus: The Mad Bootleg King, a podcast about legendary Jazz Age bootlegger George Remus. A native of Philadelphia, she lives in New York City and in Greenport, New York.
Debby Applegate is a historian and biographer based in New Haven, CT. Her first book, The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for biography and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography. She is also the author of Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler.
Michelle Young is the author of Secret Brooklyn, Secret New York: Hidden Bars & Restaurants, Broadway, and the forthcoming narrative non-fiction book, The Art Spy, to be published by HarperOne, an imprint of Harper Collins. The Art Spy was Publisher’s Weekly Deal of the Week in August 2022. Michelle is also the founder of Untapped New York,, a Professor of Architecture at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and a scholar in the New York Public Library’s Allen Room. Michelle’s writing and photography have been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Hyperallergic, The Forward, Business Insider, Curbed, Metropolis Magazine and more. She was featured on the History Channel production The Engineering That Built the World, Netflix’s Stay Here, Smithsonian Channel’s Searching for Secrets, PBS’ 10 That Changed America, National Geographic’s Strange Truths, and Tell Me Something I Don’t Know with Stephen Dubner.